


Fame

by chinosarah



Category: Bohemian Rhapsody (Movie 2018), Queen (Band)
Genre: F/M, Lovers to Friends, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slow Burn, fling slowly turning into real feelings?, not really slow burn but idk what to else to call it?
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-06
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-05 10:20:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,783
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17323163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chinosarah/pseuds/chinosarah
Summary: A former child star making a new image for herself becomes involved with Roger Taylor as they both rise to fame, dealing with all that brings with it and that life brings along the way.





	1. Whiskey On Ice

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so this is chapter 1 of what’s hopefully going to be a long-running series. I’m finally contributing something to this fandom instead of just leeching off everyone else! Also I made this an OC instead of a reader insert because I wanted to do something a little different and have a character was a little less likable and more flawed and less of a blank slate. Please be gentle, I haven’t written a fanfiction in years, but I hope you like it! I wrote it with BoRhap! Roger in mind, but you can picture 1970 Roger Taylor and it’ll work just fine.

4 January 1970  
Katherine adjusted the bow on her yellow dress in the mirror. She spun around to face her friend “So how do I look?”   
“You look like you’re going to freeze,” Mary said dryly to her co-worker.  
“You’re not even wearing nylons Kat!” Jane chimed in.  
“Nylons were invented by the man to keep us down! They’re itchy and uncomfortable and not wearing them has the added benefit of free drinks all night,” Katherine smiled deviously to her friends. “In any case it’s not like I’m going to go home with anybody I’m just going to flirt a little and have some drinks, there’s nothing wrong with that, in fact, it makes me frugal!” Katherine said, brushing her long blonde hair.  
“What it makes you is fast!” Jane teased dodging the hairbrush that Katherine had thrown at her.  
“We’re only teasing Kathy you look great,” Mary said, adjusting the fur trim on her own coat.  
“You’re not allowed to tease me on my birthday, it’s against the rules and I do, don’t I? Not quite as good as you, Mary, but I make up for it with my dazzling personality.”  
Mary rolled her eyes “And unparalleled humility.”  
“Of course I could do better if Mary were to come with me and help me…”  
“As much fun as it sounds to be groped by strange creepy drunk men all night, I’ll just leave getting the drinks to you.”  
“Oh live a little Mary! Don’t be such a square! And not all the guys are total creeps, who knows, you might just meet your destiny tonight!”  
“Seems a funny way to meet my destiny, at a student band’s performance in a tiny pub.”  
“A student band that we are going to miss if we don’t get going right now,” Jane chimed in.  
The girls set out from Jane’s flat down to the pub two blocks down the road. Katherine was shaking and goosebumps appeared on her bare legs as they walked down the street.  
“Cold, Kathy?” Jane taunted.  
“I’ll have you know that my blood runs quite warm so I simply don’t get cold. I simply have goosebumps in anticipation, after all, it’s my 18th birthday and I can finally drink out at clubs!”  
“Uh-huh and how are you gonna explain to the bartender at the same pub we’ve been going to for years that this is your 18th birthday?” Jane asked  
“I don’t know what you’re talking about I have never been this pub before, I have been told that I have an uncanny resemblance to a woman named Karen Knight who may have frequented this pub in the past, but I have a suspicion that she won’t be coming back,” Kathy beamed as her friends rolled their eyes.  
The girls walked into the pub together, showing Kathy’s real ID for once, just as the little student band was beginning to set up for the show. Kathy was chatting up one of the men at the bar, a ginger who was probably around 26, in a bid for free drinks just as the lead singer introduced the band.  
“How are all you lovely people doing tonight? I’m Tim Staffell, we have the incomparable Brian May on guitar, and of course, the legendary Cornish drummer Roger Taylor.” That last comment earned Tim an eye roll from the blond drummer and a few giggles from the crowd. Must be an inside joke Kathy thought to herself. Kathy had paused her pursuit of drinks to look over at the band. The lead singer looked well enough and when he started to play the bass and sing he was certainly very talented, if a bit lacking in showmanship. The guitarist seemed very tall, at least in comparison to Tim, he really had a natural talent for this, he was probably the best of all of them and his guitar was very unique, it wasn’t a Strat like most people had, Kathy had never seen a guitar quite like this one before, it had a good sound, a unique sound quite unlike most of the others she had heard before. The drummer was probably the least technically skilled of the three of them, but he made up for it many times over by bringing in a certain showmanship that the other two lacked. He would twirl his drumsticks and smile at the pretty girls in the audience. The audience was charmed and mesmerized by him (the female members of the audience in any case). He was the best looking one, in Kathy’s opinion anyway, and it seemed a shame to her that he was hidden away in the back behind a drum kit. Kathy turned her attention back to the ginger in front of her as the band’s song played in the background.  
Do do do  
Do do do  
“Do you come here often?” Kathy smiled at the ginger affecting her best northern accent. Guys like him always were suckers for sweet, naïve northern girls.  
Do do do  
Do do do  
“I would come here more often if there were more girls like you here.” Kathy laughed and batted her pretty brown eyes.  
Do do do  
Do do do  
“My, my but you are charming.” He wasn’t.  
Do do do  
Do do do  
“Where are you from?”  
Do do do  
Do do do  
“Carlisle.” She wasn’t.  
Do do do  
Do do do  
“New in town, then? Can I get you a drink?” Hook, line, and sinker.  
You take away my sunshine   
You take away my rain   
I can see it in your eye  
“Well I mean, I don’t know if I should I mean my friends don’t have drinks either and I would just feel too bad drinking in front of them if they don’t have anything.” Years of acting were finally paying off for Kathy as she put on her best “dumb, silly little distressed girl face”.   
There must be an answer somewhere   
(there must be a way)  
“Four drinks please! I’ll have a gin & tonic and whatever the lady would like to order.” He had a smarmy smile on his face and his hand started to rub on Kathy’s bare thigh.  
You can find a way  
I can see it in your eye  
“A Blue Hawaiian and a Pina Colada for my friends. I’ll have a whiskey on ice.” Kathy smiled at the ginger man before her, not allowing any of her distaste for him to show.  
The bartender gave Kathy her drinks as the song started to wind down in a chorus of Do do do. Kathy smiled and removed the ginger’s hand from her thigh. “I’ll be right back and we’ll see what kind of trouble we can get into,” Kathy winked. She never saw the ginger again.   
Kathy had a few talents and carrying three drinks through a crowded pub without spilling any of them was one of them. As she made her way over to Jane and Mary, she caught the eye of the drummer she had noticed earlier. God, he was gorgeous with long dirty blond hair and sparkling blue eyes and from the looks of it he knew it as he caught Kathy staring at him and winked at her from behind his drum set. Kathy flashed her winning smile right back at him, she would not be outdone in the overconfidence department. The drummer laughed and smiled after catching her smile before turning his attention back to his drums. He was terribly handsome, Kathy thought, I must say hello after the show. Kathy had made her way over to Mary and Jane just as the next song was starting up.   
“Ladies, I come bearing gifts!” Kathy handed Mary her Pina Colada and Jane her Blue Hawaiian.   
“Which poor sod did you trick into buying you these?” Mary prodded gently.  
“The ginger that’s dressed like a square.”  
“Kathy! That’s not a very nice thing to say!” Mary scolded, “Don’t be mean!”  
“But it’s true isn’t it? Anyway don’t feel too bad for him, he got fresh with me.”  
“Which I’m sure you in no way encouraged,” Jane chimed in in between sips of her drink.  
“Are we here to judge me for getting free drinks out of a creep or are we here to have a good time?” Kathy asked, impatient to start having a good time, taking a swig of her whiskey.  
The band played a short set consisting of some original stuff and some covers. All of the members were quite good singers, something that surprised Kathy.  
“You rarely see a singing drummer! It’s very unique!” Kathy remarked earnestly watching the drummer sing a cover of “I Feel Good”.   
“You fancy him, Kat?” Jane asked between sips of her drink.  
“He is handsome dontcha think?” Kathy twirled a lock of her hair around her finger.  
“Yeah, but he seems like a bit of a lad to me,” Jane responded.  
“Well I’m not looking to marry him or anything I just think he looks like a good time for a night or so.”  
Jane rolled her eyes as Kathy pulled out a cigarette.   
“You know Kat I read those things are just awful for you,” Jane chided as Kathy pulled out her Zippo lighter and lit the cigarette.   
“Well we all have to die somehow,” Kathy said taking a drag. As she exhaled the smoke rose and circled around the girls heads. Kathy never understood how non-smokers could stand to be in pubs, they always seemed to be more smoke than air. It was pretty in a way, at least to Kathy, the way the smoke would fog up the room putting a haze and a mystique to these pubs, a certain atmosphere was created there, one of anonymity and Kathy found it all very Romantic. Of course, to others like Jane it was just a choking hazard of dirty, smelly air.   
As the song finished, the guitarist stepped up to the mic, “Now we only have one song left for you folks tonight,” Boos and whines erupted from the crowd, “No, no, now it’s a good one it’s called ‘Doing All Right’.”   
The girls finished their drinks and Kathy finished her cigarette as the song hummed along in the background.  
“Mary, what do you think of the singer? You always have had a thing for singers and you are the one who recommended that we should see this band anyway?” Kathy turned to her friend who had been unusually quiet this whole time.   
Mary wasn’t paying attention to her friends and her eyes were focused on the bar at something. Or rather someone. A dark haired man was drinking a beer at the bar and watching the band attentively, hanging onto every note and Mary was watching him just as attentively.   
“Mary!”   
The pretty blonde finally noticed that her friends were trying to get her attention and spun around.  
“Sorry, what were you saying?”  
“Well, we were going to ask you if you liked the singer, but you seem to be more interested in the gentleman at the bar,” Kathy giggled at her friend as Mary turned bright red.  
“Well, I was just- I mean- He is quite handsome don’t you think? And Tim? Oh, he’s fine, but actually Brian, the guitarist, has been terribly kind to me.”  
“Kind to you? You’ve talked to him?” Kathy asked her friend.  
“Wait, Brian? I’ve heard that name before… weren’t you two going steady for a little while a few months ago?” Jane asked.  
Kathy’s eyes lit up and her jaw hit the floor. “Wait, wait, wait, you were going steady with him? And you didn’t tell me? I didn’t know you had gone out with anybody, you never tell me anything!”  
Mary looked overwhelmed with the sudden interrogation “Well we weren’t really going steady, we just went out on a few dates and-”  
“What was he like? He looks a bit like a square, but he is a guitarist in a rock band and the things that guitarists can do with their fingers-”  
“KAT! This is why I never tell you anything! Don’t make this dirty!”  
“Oh honey this was dirty before I said anything!”  
Mary was saved by the song coming to an end and the band thanking the audience and leaving the stage. People slowly began to shuffle out of the pub and into the hallway when Kathy stopped her friends in a doorway.   
“I’m gonna go talk to the drummer.”  
“God Kat. Should we wait for you?” Jane asked incredulously.  
“No, no, don’t wait for me.”  
“Kat, we’re not going to leave you here to go home with some guy you’ve never met. Besides, from what Brian’s told me, Roger is a lad,” Mary cautioned.  
“Oh, so his name’s Roger then? I’d forgotten if he’d been introduced. Fantastic, thank you for your help,” Kathy spun around and walked out to the back where the band was, ignoring her friends’ protests.  
Kathy opened the doors to see the three boys putting the last of the drum kit into the van.  
“I liked your show.”  
The boys spun around to see Kathy standing just outside of the door smiling at them with her prettiest, most practised smile. Kathy had a burst of pride when she saw Brian flush as soon as he looked at her, the one thing Kathy always took pride in was how pretty she was. She knew that girls were not supposed to think that they’re pretty, but Kathy was very pretty and everyone had always told her so all her life from her mother, to casting directors, to her agent. Other girls had wit and grace and they were allowed to think to think that they those, why should she not be allowed to think that she was pretty?  
Well, as long as men look at me like that, I’ll always have something Kathy thought to herself.   
“I- Thank you glad you liked it,” Brian stuttered out before quickly turning back to the van and putting more stuff in in an effort to hide the blush on his face. Kathy stifled a laugh at that. The singer Jim? No? Lin? Was also putting stuff into the van seemingly lost in thought. Roger did not blush sweetly like Brian did. He simply smiled the cockiest smile that Kathy had ever seen as he approached her.   
“I noticed you enjoying the show,” he looking up and down her body in a completely un-gentlemanly way. He lowered his voice and whispered in her ear “And I noticed you looking at me.”  
Kathy laughed and turned to him, her voice as soft as his, “Is that right? Because I seem to remember it being you looking at me.” The blondes smirked at each other.  
“I’m Roger.”  
“Kathy. Or Katherine if you’re my mother and I’ve pissed you off.”  
Roger laughed at that. “Listen, what are you doing-”  
“Roger, hey, I need to talk to you,” the singer Tom? Interrupted the two.  
Roger turned to the singer, annoyance flickering in his eyes, “Can it wait, I’m kinda in the middle of something, Tim.” Tim! That was it!  
“No, Roger, I’m sorry, but it’s important. And miss? I’m sorry, but I really need to talk to Roger and Brian. Alone.”  
“I understand. See you around Roger.”  
Kathy turned around towards the hall, a little annoyed, though not as annoyed as Roger who Kathy heard as she was heading back, “Are you joking? You better have something important to say, she was about an hour and two drinks away from shagging me!”  
Kathy saw Mary and Jane still standing in the doorway where she had left them as she came back, they were looking at someone down the hall from her. As Kathy followed their gaze she noticed the dark-haired man that Mary had been staring at earlier walking towards her. He stopped suddenly and turned around to look at Mary.   
“I like your coat,” the dark-haired stranger said.  
“She got it at Biba, she works there!” Jane chimed in smiling at Mary who turned to Jane, irritation flickering on her face.  
“Thank you.” Mary said, her annoyance and embarrassment visible on her face.  
The dark-haired man smiled and continued walking down the hallway, passing Kathy. Kathy rejoined her friends, as bemused as Jane was at how flustered the dark-haired man made her.  
“Well, well Mary, you have an admirer!” Kathy said.  
“I do not have an admirer! I’ve seen him at other Smile shows and he just wanted to know where the band is and he probably just recognized me. And aren’t you supposed to be shagging some drummer by now?”  
Kathy gasped in mock outrage, “Well I never! I was merely inviting him over for a chaste afternoon tea and you and your dirty mind turned this into something naughty that I never could have dreamed of! Honestly Mary!”  
“Spare us Kathy, we both know that you are as much a virgin as Mary Magdalene was. Did you get shot down?”  
“I have never and will never be shot down in my life! Tim just needed to talk to him.”  
“What about?”  
“No idea. Band stuff, probably. Anyway, we have to open tomorrow, want to head back?”  
“Gladly.”


	2. Classy People

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kathy runs into a familiar face at Biba.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: No Roger in person this chapter sorry guys! It’s just a short chapter so a new one will be up soon, I promise! There’s some really good Freddie and Kathy friendship content in here! This chapter was mostly Freddie and Kathy friendship set-up! Kathy’s a bit more likable in this chapter, she’s like an onion, she’s got layers.

18 January 1970  
Two weeks had passed since Kathy’s birthday. There hadn’t been any more Smile gigs, which was unusual since according to Mary, Smile usually played at least one gig a week. In any case, as the memory of her birthday night faded away into the background, so did any thought of Smile or the pretty drummer with dirty blonde hair. That is, until the dark-haired man from the pub showed up at Biba. Kathy was working helping customers when she caught sight of him looking at trousers in the ladies’ section. Huh, she thought, he must actually like Mary. The man was looking around the store periodically, looking for Mary. Kathy put on her best smile and walked up to the dark-haired stranger.  
“Looking for Mary?”  
The man looked up, suddenly startled, he was handsome, Kathy could see why Mary liked him. He quickly put the trousers he was looking at back on the rack, missing the first time and almost dropping them on the floor.  
“I- yes- how did you know that?” the man looked at her, bewildered.  
“I’m psychic.”  
The poor man looked even more confused, “What?”  
Kathy laughed, “I’m only joking, I saw you at the Smile gig the other week.”  
The man finally started to relax, “Oh, you were at the Smile gig?”  
“Yeah, I was there with Mary. They’re good dontcha think? Do you know when they’re playing again?”  
A knowing smile crept across the man’s face, “Well, it might be a while, they’ve got a new lead singer and they’re looking for someone who can play bass.”  
Now, this was a surprise, “What? What happened to Jim?”  
The man laughed at her, “You mean Tim? He left to join Humpy Bong.”  
“Humpy Bong? That’s a horrible band name! Who came up with that? I mean Humpy Bong really? What are they going to do now? Are they auditioning new bass players? What-”  
“No, you’re supposed to ask who the new singer is!” the man burst into laughter.  
“What?”  
“That’s how this conversation went in my head and you’re not sticking to the script! That’s very rude you know!” the man said through his laughter.  
Kathy started to giggle herself, “Okay, I’ll play along, please tell me kind sir, whoever will be the new singer?”  
The pair were almost laughing too hard now to get anything out, drawing stares from the other patrons. The man pulled himself together enough to pose in the most dramatic pose Kathy had ever seen while gesturing to himself, sending her even further into hysterics, “You-you’re the new singer?” she choked out between laughs.  
The man nodded and Kathy’s eyes lit up “Oh you have to sing, please, please, please you have to!”  
“I don’t think your patrons would appreciate it, I think they already think we’re drunk.”  
Kathy put on a mock-serious face, “Oh of course we mustn't have people thinking that we have emotions, we are a proper Englishman and Englishwoman,” Kathy said in her most ridiculous bad impression of a RP accent.  
“Oh that would just be absurd gracious lady, laughing and singing in public!” the man said in an equally ridiculous mock accent.  
“The impropriety!”  
“I shudder to think of it!”  
As soon as the two managed to collect themselves from yet another fit of laughter, Kathy spoke up, “But, really, I’d like to hear you sing. I’m a singer myself!”  
“Are you? How many records have you sold?”  
“Well- None yet, but it’s just a matter of time though! I’m going to be a pop star like Janis Joplin just you see!”  
The man smiled “And I’ll be John Lennon a year from now!”  
“Janis Joplin and John Lennon? Who are they? The hottest stars on the scene are Kat Teague and… I’m so sorry I don’t know your name!”  
“Freddie. Freddie Bulsara.”  
“Kat Teague and Freddie Bulsara!”  
Kat grinned and Freddie started to smile before clapped a hand over his mouth, eyes still smiling.  
“Why’d you do that?”  
“Do what?”  
“Cover your mouth like that.”  
“Oh, it’s just- I was born with 4 extra teeth and it makes my smile look a little…” he didn’t finish his sentence.  
“Well don’t cover your mouth like that! Your smile can be your thing!”  
“My thing?”  
“Yes, yes, everyone who’s anyone has a thing, like Marilyn Monroe and her mole!”  
“My thing… okay, okay, well then what’s your thing?”  
“I don’t have a thing, I’m physically flawless, that’s my thing.”  
Freddie laughed out loud, not covering his mouth this time, “Maybe your humility can be your thing.”  
“Perhaps!”  
“You know, you can come to a rehearsal, if you want to hear me sing. I don’t know how long it will be until we find a bass player so we can play gigs again.”  
Kathy smiled, “I think I’ll just have to take you up on that offer, you see I was just in the middle of a fascinating conversation with your drummer, Roger was it, when we were very rudely interrupted by Humpy Bong boy.”  
Freddie smiled, “The same fascinating conversation he has with every pretty girl he meets? Trust me, darling, you don’t want to get involved with him, he’ll break your heart.”  
“One thing you need to know about me, darling, is that I don’t have a heart to break,” Kathy said scribbling down her number on a spare piece of paper she found in her pocket.  
“Don’t take that the wrong way, I’m sure you are very strong and independent, it’s just that you seem to be very classy and Roger, well Roger can be a bit of a whore.”  
Kathy handed him the slip of paper. “Classy people can be whores too. Call me next time you’re rehearsing.”  
“I suppose you’re right. And is Mary working, not that you are not enchanting company, it’s just that-”  
“Mary doesn’t work Sundays. She’ll be in tomorrow if you want to talk to her. And Freddie?”  
“Yes?”  
“Don’t forget to smile.”


	3. Unfinished Business

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kathy and Mary attend an audition. Deaky begins writing Back Chat.

19 January 1970  
“You’re really not going to talk about this, are you?” Kathy drew Mary’s pillow closer to her chest. Mary and Kathy were sitting on Kathy’s bed in their flat. Biba didn’t pay well enough for individual flats. Kathy was wearing a short blue romper and had her hair tied back with a little white ribbon while Mary was in a floor length yellow nightgown “At least tell me how it went! Did he ask you out? Did you shag him in the dressing room?”  
“Yes, Kathy, I shagged him in the dressing room.”  
“Come on Mary, you have to tell me something! I helped make this happen!”   
“You did nothing!”  
“Nonsense, I told him that you were working today, that counts for something!”  
Mary bit her lip, smiling at the floor, “He asked me to come watch his band audition new bass players.”  
Kathy smiled and nudged her friend, “See I am the greatest wing-woman there ever was!” Kathy reached over into her nightstand and pulled out her lighter and a cigarette. She stuck the cigarette in her mouth, flipped open the lighter and drew it closer to her mouth as she turned back to her friend.   
Mary looked back over at her as Kathy lit her cigarette and said “I need you to come with me.”  
Kathy looked back at her friend, surprised at this development, “You want me to come with you on your date?”  
“It’s not a date, the whole band’s going to be there.”  
Kathy took a drag, “Is it Brian then? Are you worried about being there with your ex? Because if that’s why you want me there, well, his hair’s a little poofy, he need to stop trying to straighten it, but he certainly has a nice face and he is taller than me which most men can’t say and you know how I feel about guitarists and their hands-”  
“No! No, that’s not what I meant! He’s bring his new girlfriend-what’s her name-Chrissy!” Mary’s face flushed in a way that made Kathy giggle. Mary’s face then suddenly turned guilty, “I may have already told them that you would come.”  
“What, why would you, wait them? I thought you only talked to Freddie?”  
“Well I did- I mean I meant to! It’s just that Freddie was so nervous to talk to me that he brought some- uh- support.”  
Kathy raised her eyebrow, “Support?”  
Mary quickly nodded, “Yeah, support. HewastoonervoussohebroughtRogerandItoldhimIwouldbringyoutotheaudition.”  
“What?”  
Mary took a deep breath “He was too nervous to go alone, so he brought Roger along with him and he was there and he was flirting and then he asked me if I had any friends that I could bring along to the auditions for him since Brian would have Chrissy and I would be going with Freddie- and I panicked okay? I told him that I did and that he had already met you and then he remembered you and now you have to come, you just have to come!” Mary collapsed like a folding chair, head on her knees now and her arms wrapped around her legs.   
Kathy laughed at her friend’s distress, “I thought you said that I shouldn’t get involved with him, that he was a bad idea, and here you are setting us up!”  
“I am not setting you guys up and he is still a bad idea! I just really, really need you to do this for me, please I really like this guy and I don’t want to mess it up by looking like a liar the first time I meet him!” Mary’s big blue eyes were were pleading with Kathy and Kathy always had a weakness for blue eyes.   
“Alright, fine, I’ll go,” Kathy smiled at her friend as Mary hugged her.   
Kathy looked down at the little pug that was asleep at the foot of the bed, “Can I bring Lady with me?”   
“No, you cannot bring your dog to this audition!” Mary said looking incredulously at her friend.  
“Why not? She’ll get lonely!” Kathy pouted and pulled the pug up to her face, waking the little dog up in the process.  
“Lady’s a dog. She will be fine for a few hours on her own. I promise.” Mary watched as Kathy stuck her lower lip out and the pug started licking Kathy’s face.   
Kathy sighed dramatically, “Well I suppose if I must leave her for a few hours, I will, but I don’t have to like it. Where is this thing anyway and when is it?”  
“It’s in a room at Roger’s university at the end of the month. So you’ll go then? Even though you can’t bring Lady?” Mary actually looked nervous.  
“Yes, I already told you, I’ll go even if I can’t bring Lady,” Mary’s face brightened at that, “But in the meantime we need to figure out what you’re going to wear to this!”

 

31 January 1970  
The university campus was strange after dark when Mary and Kathy arrived. The hustle and bustle of classes was gone leaving only a few students in large groups walking around the campus at night. It was almost eerily quiet until Mary and Kathy reached the room where the audition was going to be held. Brian was sitting on a sofa with his arm around a pretty brunette, that must be Chrissy, and Freddie and Roger were excitedly talking about something and smoking when Freddie noticed the girls come in.   
He leapt up from the couch and rushed over to Mary, kissing her on the cheek, “How beautiful you are. Guys, this is Mary-”  
“We’ve met!” Roger chimed in wearing a huge shit-eating grin and looking directly at Brian who was the colour of a tomato now. Chrissy was looking between Brian and Mary confused.  
“And this is her lovely friend Kathy who Mary has so generously brought for Roger.”  
“Poor thing, no one deserve to have Roger foisted upon them,” Brian smirked at Roger, who glared back at him.  
“Mary, Kathy, the two who are bickering like little schoolboys are Brian, brown hair, plays the guitar, and Roger, the blonde, plays the drums, and the lovely lady over there is Miss Christine Mullen, also known as Chrissy.” Mary and Kathy waved over to the group who waved back.   
Kathy smiled over at Roger who was wearing sunglasses indoors like a real rockstar. Roger grinned back at Kathy, looking her up and down, before saying, “Well, you’re a pretty one, aren’t you?” Brian rolled his eyes at Roger.  
Kathy looked over at him and raised an eyebrow, “Don’t you recognize me?” Roger’s eyebrows furrowed as Chrissy burst into laughter.   
“This has never happened to me before!” Roger snapped at the laughing girl behind him.   
Brian was laughing as well as he rose from his spot on the sofa and clapped a hand on Roger’s shoulder. “As much as I’m enjoying this Rog, it’s not as bad as you think. We just talked to her after our last show.”  
“Well at least someone remembers me, I’d hate to think that I’m forgettable.”  
“I remember-”  
“It’s not you, doll, it’s that he can’t see.”  
“What?”  
“Brian, I swear-”  
“Rog is as blind as a bat without his glasses,” Brian smirked at the fuming blond, “that’s why he wears his sunglasses inside, he thinks regular glasses aren’t very ‘rock ‘n roll’.”  
“But he was flirting with the crowd during your show?”  
“He does that during every show, I think he figures that there must be at least one pretty bird in the crowd thinking that he’s flirting with them and he’s usually right,” Roger’s face was beet red now. The whole group of was laughing now, much to Roger’s dismay, when they were interrupted.  
A man, more a boy really, entered the room. He looked very much like a cocker spaniel, with long brown hair and soft brown eyes and was dragging along a bass and an amp. “Excuse me, is this the room where Smile’s auditioning bass players?” His voice was soft and sweet, if a little timid.   
Roger jumped at the opportunity to change the subject, “Yes! Yes it is!”  
The cocker spaniel looking young man smiled sweetly and walked into the center of the room and set up his amp and plugged in his bass, “Hello, my name is John Richard Deacon and I was born on the 19th of August 1951.” The young man, John Deacon, then started to play his bass. It surprised Kathy just how good he was. Despite his cocker spaniel like appearance, he could play the bass parts of Smile’s rock tracks incredibly well. His timid demeanor faded away as he lost himself in the music and began to sway a little bit to the music. As he finished up a song that Kathy hadn’t heard before, Great King Rat, he stopped to look back at the group which had just been staring at him silently. “Well was I okay?” John’s timid demeanor had returned as he stopped playing the music, smiling back nervously at them.  
“It was better than okay, darling, it was bloody great!” Freddie exclaimed and the younger man’s nerves seemed to calm a bit as his smile widened. “Brian, Rog, don’t you two think he was amazing?”  
“Yeah, it was really good,” Roger added.  
Whatever Brian was thinking, he didn’t reveal it on his face, “Your amp. Do you know how to fix it if it breaks?”  
“I actually built the amp myself,” John smiled, “I’m studying electrical engineering.”  
Brian’s eyes seemed to actually light up with that, “Well there is room for improvement in your bass playing,” Roger and Freddie groaned and look incredulously at Brian, “but the fact that you built your own amp is impressive. And useful. Can you meet us here a week from now so we can rehearse?”  
John nodded and thanked them for their time, still looking a little deflated from Brian’s comment as he left.  
“That was harsh. He was the best damn bass player we’ve had audition for us,” Roger commented taking a drag from his cigarette.  
“He was, but there was still room for improvement. But I do think he may work out,” Brian said.  
“Always the critic, dear, you must stop being such a perfectionist,” Freddie added putting out his own cigarette, “I’d love to stay, but I really must go or I’ll miss my shift.”  
Freddie said something to Mary that Kathy couldn’t hear and kissed her on the cheek before leaving. Chrissy whispered something to Brian and Brian stood up, holding Chrissy’s hand, “We’re going to go, we’ll see you guys later.” The pair left hand in hand, leaving only Mary, Roger, and Kathy in the room.   
“I’m going back to the flat do you want to come with me?” Mary asked.  
“No, no, you go ahead, I’ll see you later,” Kathy replied glancing at Roger before smiling back at Mary. Mary hugged Kathy and left leaving only Kathy and Roger.  
Roger walked up to Kathy with the cockiest smile she had ever seen on his face, “Not going with your friend?”  
Kathy matched his smile with one of her own as his arm wrapped around her, hand resting on her back, creeping lower and lower, “I had unfinished business here. We never got to finish our conversation from the other night.”  
“Do you want to finish that conversation over drinks?” Roger asked, hand dangerously low on her back.   
“I’d love to,” Kathy replied.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you all enjoyed this chapter, it wasn't my favorite chapter, sorry for making you guys wait so long it was a bitch to write! Luckily next chapter we can get started into the good stuff!

**Author's Note:**

> That’s all folks! Also don’t crucify me for the descriptions Kathy gives of the band’s playing, they’re based off of biographies of Queen that I read that said that Tim was good enough to get recruited to an up and coming band, Brian was exceptionally talented from the early days of Queen, and Roger wasn’t perfect technically at first, it took him until about Sheer Heart Attack to really get his drumming down to the exceptional level it is today! I don’t know enough about music to make these kind of judgments on my own, I think they sound really good, even from the beginning! But Kathy as a character would so I had to defer to what other people who know music said about it! Again, please be kind I haven’t written any fanfiction in a very long time!!


End file.
